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Clarence James Hickman
[ 18 7 ] Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 79 (1) 187-188 (1982)
Primed in Great Britain
OBITUARY
CLARENCE JAMES HICKMAN 19 14- 19 8 0
C. J. Hickman was born in Birmingham on 1 April 1914. He attended Waverley Secondary School, Birmingham, and then from 1932 to 1936 studied at Birmingham University, taking first class honours in Botany, and the Heslop Memorial Medal. This was followed by post graduate research under Professor C. G. C. Chesters on root diseases of Viola. On gaining his PhD in 1936 he was appointed assistant to L. Ogilvie in the Ministry of Agriculture Advisory Service to work on vegetable diseases in the Vale of Evesham. In 1938 his sustained interest in the genus Phytophthora started when he was appointed as an Agricultural Research Council Research Officer attached to the Ministry's Plant Pathology Laboratory at Harpenden under G. G. Samuel. Based at a field laboratory in Westerham, Kent, his task was to investigate a strawberry disease which had been named 'red core' by Mrs N. L. Alcock in 1929. The etiology of the disease had baffled earlier investigators, but Hickman soon established the cause as a new species: Phyrophthorafragariae. He showed that the
disease is introduced into strawberry fields by planting infected runners, and that severity of the disease is linked with high soil water content, and often associated with impeded drainage. The strawberry research at Westerham was suspended after the outbreak of World War 2 in 1939, and Hickman was brought back to Long Ashton Research Station for essential work on vegetable seed disinfection. In October 1944 he was appointed Lecturer in Botany in the University of Birmingham in succession to C. G . C. Chesters who moved to the Chair at Nottingham. He was promoted Reader in 1955, and in 1959, when Professor Maskell died suddenly, Jim Hickman became Acting Head of the Botany Department. He and his wife kept open house for staff and research students. He was active in establishing links between the Department and the Agricultural Advisory Service at Evesham and Wolverhampton, and with the National Vegetable Research Station at Wellesbourne. The interest in Phytophthora was maintained with grants from the
188
Obituary
Agricultural Research Council. He led fungus forays both for students and for the Birmingham Natural History Society . He helped found a University Dining Club which continues to flourish . All was done with great enthusiasm . Many mycologists act ive in the present generation worked with or under him. He was a stickler for precis ion in the scientific work coming out of his laboratory, and had a caustic tongue for anyone who, in his opinion, showed the slightest tendency to sloth or stupidity . But all this was more than counterbalanced by his read y friendsh ip, the personal interest he took in the happiness and well-being of colleagues and students, and his infinite pains in help ing them and guiding their research : he was never too busy to discuss their work or listen to their problems. The University of Birmingham awarded him a DSc in 1970. Jim Hickman joined the British Mycological Society in 1935 while still a research student, and rendered great service to the Society in the 1940S and 1950s. He served on the Society 's Plant Pathology Committee from 1942 to 1946, and again as its Cha irman from 1953 to 1956. In 1947 he was elected to Council, and in the following year became Secretary to the Society, a post which he held from 1948 to 1952. In 1957 he was elected Pre sident of the Society, and chose for his Pres idential Address the topic of 'PhytophthoraPlant Destroyer '. While primarily interested in 'lower fungi' , he was introduced to the field study of agarics by Mary English, and in the 1950s, armed with camera and tripod, participated with his usual zest in numerous fungus forays , building up a collect ion of colour transparencies. He encouraged amateu r fungus forayers, and led a group (including F. Fincher of Randan Wood ) which years later produced the Fungus Flora of War wickshire.
Then in 1960 he was appointed Professor of Botany and Head of Department at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. Here he develop ed Phytophthora research and attracted an international group with an impressive record of publications. He was expecially intere sted in the soil and root relati ons of Phytoph thora, and the school is widel y acclaimed for much basic information on the responses of zoospores to root s in vitro, and responses to chemical, electr ical and other attractants. The new environment in North America was eagerly explored in vacations, and Jim was a driv ing force in the formation of the Canadian Botanical Association in 1963. A true garden lover, he was an active member of the Board of Governors of the Royal Botanical Garden at Hamilton, Ontario. During the years at Western Ontario he built up the Department from a staff of 7 to 21 members, expanding both teaching and research. This involved many distractions and departmental worries, and he was happy to spend a sabbatical leave with George Zentmyer and colleagues at the University of California, Riverside. He retired in 1976, and in later years suffered from a depressive illness . He died of a sudden heart attack in hospital . in London, Ontario on 24 September 1980. In 1940 he married Eveline Chapman who gave quiet support unstintingly to the end . She and their son and daughter, who are both married, continue to live in Canada. There are two grandsons . Hi s death deprives the Society of a member of 45 years standing, a distinguished Past President, mycologist and plant pathologist, and end s nearly 40 years of active research on the genus Phytophthora . P.H .G.
Primed in Great Britain
OBITUARY
CLARENCE JAMES HICKMAN 19 14- 19 8 0
C. J. Hickman was born in Birmingham on 1 April 1914. He attended Waverley Secondary School, Birmingham, and then from 1932 to 1936 studied at Birmingham University, taking first class honours in Botany, and the Heslop Memorial Medal. This was followed by post graduate research under Professor C. G. C. Chesters on root diseases of Viola. On gaining his PhD in 1936 he was appointed assistant to L. Ogilvie in the Ministry of Agriculture Advisory Service to work on vegetable diseases in the Vale of Evesham. In 1938 his sustained interest in the genus Phytophthora started when he was appointed as an Agricultural Research Council Research Officer attached to the Ministry's Plant Pathology Laboratory at Harpenden under G. G. Samuel. Based at a field laboratory in Westerham, Kent, his task was to investigate a strawberry disease which had been named 'red core' by Mrs N. L. Alcock in 1929. The etiology of the disease had baffled earlier investigators, but Hickman soon established the cause as a new species: Phyrophthorafragariae. He showed that the
disease is introduced into strawberry fields by planting infected runners, and that severity of the disease is linked with high soil water content, and often associated with impeded drainage. The strawberry research at Westerham was suspended after the outbreak of World War 2 in 1939, and Hickman was brought back to Long Ashton Research Station for essential work on vegetable seed disinfection. In October 1944 he was appointed Lecturer in Botany in the University of Birmingham in succession to C. G . C. Chesters who moved to the Chair at Nottingham. He was promoted Reader in 1955, and in 1959, when Professor Maskell died suddenly, Jim Hickman became Acting Head of the Botany Department. He and his wife kept open house for staff and research students. He was active in establishing links between the Department and the Agricultural Advisory Service at Evesham and Wolverhampton, and with the National Vegetable Research Station at Wellesbourne. The interest in Phytophthora was maintained with grants from the
188
Obituary
Agricultural Research Council. He led fungus forays both for students and for the Birmingham Natural History Society . He helped found a University Dining Club which continues to flourish . All was done with great enthusiasm . Many mycologists act ive in the present generation worked with or under him. He was a stickler for precis ion in the scientific work coming out of his laboratory, and had a caustic tongue for anyone who, in his opinion, showed the slightest tendency to sloth or stupidity . But all this was more than counterbalanced by his read y friendsh ip, the personal interest he took in the happiness and well-being of colleagues and students, and his infinite pains in help ing them and guiding their research : he was never too busy to discuss their work or listen to their problems. The University of Birmingham awarded him a DSc in 1970. Jim Hickman joined the British Mycological Society in 1935 while still a research student, and rendered great service to the Society in the 1940S and 1950s. He served on the Society 's Plant Pathology Committee from 1942 to 1946, and again as its Cha irman from 1953 to 1956. In 1947 he was elected to Council, and in the following year became Secretary to the Society, a post which he held from 1948 to 1952. In 1957 he was elected Pre sident of the Society, and chose for his Pres idential Address the topic of 'PhytophthoraPlant Destroyer '. While primarily interested in 'lower fungi' , he was introduced to the field study of agarics by Mary English, and in the 1950s, armed with camera and tripod, participated with his usual zest in numerous fungus forays , building up a collect ion of colour transparencies. He encouraged amateu r fungus forayers, and led a group (including F. Fincher of Randan Wood ) which years later produced the Fungus Flora of War wickshire.
Then in 1960 he was appointed Professor of Botany and Head of Department at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. Here he develop ed Phytophthora research and attracted an international group with an impressive record of publications. He was expecially intere sted in the soil and root relati ons of Phytoph thora, and the school is widel y acclaimed for much basic information on the responses of zoospores to root s in vitro, and responses to chemical, electr ical and other attractants. The new environment in North America was eagerly explored in vacations, and Jim was a driv ing force in the formation of the Canadian Botanical Association in 1963. A true garden lover, he was an active member of the Board of Governors of the Royal Botanical Garden at Hamilton, Ontario. During the years at Western Ontario he built up the Department from a staff of 7 to 21 members, expanding both teaching and research. This involved many distractions and departmental worries, and he was happy to spend a sabbatical leave with George Zentmyer and colleagues at the University of California, Riverside. He retired in 1976, and in later years suffered from a depressive illness . He died of a sudden heart attack in hospital . in London, Ontario on 24 September 1980. In 1940 he married Eveline Chapman who gave quiet support unstintingly to the end . She and their son and daughter, who are both married, continue to live in Canada. There are two grandsons . Hi s death deprives the Society of a member of 45 years standing, a distinguished Past President, mycologist and plant pathologist, and end s nearly 40 years of active research on the genus Phytophthora . P.H .G.